


kiss me once, kiss me twice (and once again)

by tasteofsummersnow



Series: In Love with the Salt of You [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 2nd year Goshiki, 3rd year Shirabu, Everyone ships ShiraGoshi, First Kiss, Goshiki is too precious for this world, Kissing Booth, M/M, Meddling Friends, Shirabu is Bad With Emotions and Communication, Shirabu is a grumpy tsundere, The 3rd years make an appearance, and a disaster gay tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 00:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21045569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tasteofsummersnow/pseuds/tasteofsummersnow
Summary: Shirabu still couldn’t quite believe that his class had gotten their homeroom teacher’s approval for this. Or that they had managed to convince him to go along with the whole thing.But here he was, sitting at one of the six booths they had set up all over the festival grounds and being paid to kiss people.Or: Shirabu works at a kissing booth, has a not-really-but-maybe-kind-of crush on Goshiki, and a lot of well-meaning, meddling friends. What could possibly go wrong?





	kiss me once, kiss me twice (and once again)

**Author's Note:**

> I... wrote a fic that has actual plot??? that is over 1k??? and isn't just a character study??? Who am I???
> 
> No but really, this is pretty different from the stuff I usually write, so if it feels a little awkward at times, feel free to point it out!
> 
> There is some past, unrequitted UshiShira in this, and some blink-and-you-miss-it KawaSemi because I am weak, lol.
> 
> I feel like everyone is kind of messing with Shirabu in this one, but I promise, they all mean well!
> 
> The prompt for this one was "Knowing How", btw.

The Shiratorizawa High School Culture Festival was really something else.

It was, in theory, supposed to be like any other culture festival. But if there was one thing that Shirabu had learnt in his two and a half years at Shiratorizawa, it was that everything in this school was over the top in one way or another.

There were stands and activities that would be considered normal, like the yakisoba booth Taichi’s class had organized, then there were slightly unusual things, like the day nursery Goshiki and his class were in charge of, and then there were the things that you couldn’t hope to find at just any old high school festival, like the horse-back riding. Or the kissing booth Shirabu was currently working.

He still couldn’t quite believe that his class had gotten their homeroom teacher’s approval for this. Or that they had managed to convince him to go along with the whole thing.

But here he was, sitting at one of the six booths they had set up all over the festival grounds and being paid to kiss people.

If his classmates had bothered to listen to him, Shirabu would have told them that the whole thing would be a big flop. Who would want to pay to kiss someone? But they had just laughed and insisted that he could have vetoed their decision at the organizational meetings. All protest that he had only missed them because he had a national level Volleyball Club to run had fallen on deaf ears. And then, to top it all off, they had unanimously decided that Shirabu would be one of the people doing the kissing.

He could have said no, of course. But in the end, Shirabu had decided that he’d rather not incur the wrath of his classmates by not helping with the festival at all. It also hadn’t hurt that they had promised he could give all the money he earned to the volleyball club. (Shirabu was hoping that they would get one of those screens that replay all court action with a delay and Goshiki would finally believe him when he said that he was flailing like an idiot when it came to tossing.)

Plus, he had been convinced that no one in their right mind would even think of coming to their kissing booth anyways.

Boy, had he been wrong about that.

He had been penciled in for the shift from two to six. It had to be half past five by now and their corner of the festival was slowly dying down. The mochi booth next to theirs had long since run out of sweets, the small stage had seen its last performance over half an hour ago and now everyone who had performed something was getting ready for the last big show on the main stage, so that was deserted, too, and the calligraphy booth to their other side had begun its last workshop of the day. Even so, it was only in the last fifteen minutes that their number of customers had really dropped and they still had some people coming by, some even for the second or third time.

Other guys might have been flattered if so many girls were willing to pay to kiss them. Shirabu really couldn’t care less. 

Partly, because he had no illusions that the person, they all wanted to kiss was the calm and collected, mature Captain of the Shiratorizawa Volleyball Club they made him out to be and not really him, Shirabu Kenjirou, the overthinking, snarky hot-head. 

Mostly, because he generally held zero interest in kissing girls. Ever.

So, to him, all that kissing was really just a fucking boring task. After what had to be nearing two hundred kisses, Shirabu was long over the absurdity of the situation. Instead, he had developed an almost mechanical technique.

Smile at the customer. Be told where to kiss them. Kiss them. Smile at them again. Next customer. Repeat.

The whole thing only bore some resemblance to fun because he had Taichi and Yunohama there with him. Yunohama was in his class and responsible for handling the money and Taichi had gotten out of helping at his own class’ yakisoba booth by insisting that his allergies would make him sneeze all over the customers and the food, and had been lazing around in the back of the booth all afternoon.

Well, fun was maybe too kind a word, seeing as they spent most of their time trying to make Shirabu laugh right as he was about to kiss someone. And they made full use of the fact that he couldn’t just run away or yell at them to shut the fuck up to tease him about Goshiki. 

They had begun with the incident this morning, where Shirabu had forced them to stay at the day nursery Goshiki’s class was running (not true, he had told them that they could check out the rest of the festival without him) for over an hour (another lie, it was 45 minutes at best) to help out even though Goshiki’s class had more than enough people present (… somewhat true, but Goshiki had asked and… anyways, Goshiki had asked) and Shirabu hated children (okay, that one was true), because Goshiki had him wrapped around his little finger (“No he hasn’t! What the fuck? Shut the fuck up or I will make you do suicide runs all practice on Monday!”). 

But that really was only the beginning, because apparently, they had an endless list of embarrassing things he had done when Goshiki was around.

So, in a way, it was almost a relief, when, some twenty minutes ago, Taichi had left, declaring that he had something he needed to take care of but that he’d come back later. 

So now it was just Shirabu, Yunohama who mostly backed down from all the teasing when Shirabu reminded him that he knew about the Batman Frog Incident, and their occasional customers.

“Aaaaand, lips”, Yunohama told him, as the last girl of a group of five approached Shirabu for her kiss. She was blushing bright red as Shirabu leaned over the table and pressed a short, chaste kiss to her lips. 

As the girls left, chattering happily among themselves, leaving them without any new customers for the moment, Yunohama levelled him a resigned look.

“What?”, Shirabu asked and reached for the lip balm that the girl, who had worked the booth before him, had left there for him, telling him that he would need it.

Yunohama groaned. “Nothing, nothing. It’s just… that was Kanzaki-san from class 2 and you look like you couldn’t care less.”

Shirabu raised an eyebrow, while applying the lip balm. Once finished, he smacked his lips, then said: “I couldn’t.”

“Well, don’t let her hear that”, Yunohama laughed, shaking his head. “Man, I can’t believe that you’d rather kiss Goshiki with his stupid bowl-cut than a total babe like Kanzaki-san…”

“Shut up, I wouldn’t”, Shirabu grumbled.

“Yeah, right. Sorry, Captain, you’re not fooling anyone. We all heard the interview you gave at Inter High and how proud you were of your ace.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Shirabu.

Shirabu hid his face in his arms with a groan. “I meant ‘our’, okay? ‘Our’!”, it came out muffled by his arms.

“Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself th… wait, are those the senpai?”

That made Shirabu look back up and indeed, the group approaching were undoubtedly their former senpai from the Volleyball Club.

“Did you know they’d be here? Do you think they’re coming over to say hi?”

Shirabu hadn’t known, but it wasn’t all that surprising to see them here, since it wasn’t unusual for alumni to drop by at the festival.

“I guess so.”

It would be nice to see them again; it had been a while after all. 

The only downside was that Shirabu was currently working a kissing booth and the chances that Tendou-san, Yamagata-san and Semi-san wouldn’t exploit the situation to make fun of him in one way or another were… slim to none. 

He would just have to bear with it and think of a way to get back at them later.

It would all be work ou– 

Wait, did they bring Goshiki with them?! Yes, that was definitely Goshiki, still wearing the frilly apron from his shift at the day nursery.

Just as Shirabu came to the realization that the teasing might turn out worse than originally expected, Goshiki called out Shirabu’s name, waving enthusiastically.

“Awww, he missed you”, Yunohama cooed as the two of them got up to greet their senpai properly.

“Shut up”, he hissed at Yunohama, then the two of them called out a “hello” to their senpai with a bow.

Their greetings were returned and the senpai commended them for reaching the quarter finals of the Inter High. For a while, it was just catching up.

Yamagata-san told them how he had finally tricked his parents into letting him do his apprenticeship at a tailor’s and showed off the jacket he had designed and sewed himself. 

Oohira-san was now roommates at university with the old captain from Karasuno and was contemplating switching majors from Geography to Biology after he had helped Sawamura-san out with some study concerning seals. 

Ushijima-san announced that his new teammates had been horrified when they first saw him do 100 jump serves after practice, which made the senpai laugh and those who were still suffering under Washijo-sensei’s brutal practice regime groan. 

Tendou-san had been travelling through South America for the last few months, which explained his tan. He had tried (and thankfully failed) to import a baby alligator as his pet.

Semi-san was now working at his uncle’s garage and had come to Shiratorizawa on his motorcycle, which earned him major coolness points from Goshiki and put a look in Taichi’s eyes that alerted Shirabu to the fact that he needed to stay far, far away from their dorm room tonight.

All in all, it seemed their senpai were doing well for themselves. Then they asked about the team and Goshiki started talking, gesturing wildly, proud and excited. He told anecdotes from their last training camp, insisted that his cross had gotten sharper, gushed about the jump floater serves that both Taichi and Shirabu had added to their repertoire lately and boasted how all first years called him Goshiki-senpai. He told it all in that earnestly excited tone of his and if Shirabu couldn’t help but smile at that, so what? He ignored the twin knowing looks he earned from Taichi and Yunohama and instead added to Goshiki’s explanations.

The whole conversation went on long enough for Shirabu to forget his initial worries.

Until the moment that Tendou-san pulled out his wallet. “Sooooooo, Kenjirou”, he drawled, “Taichi told us you’re selling kisses to earn money for the Volleyball Club. Have some left?”

Damnit, he should have known better than to let down his guard around these guys!

“No, in fact we’re just about to close”, he lied.

“But the sign said you were open until six. It is only 5:49. You should have changed that if you decided to close early. People might get confused”, Ushijima-san pointed out.

“Oh, we’re definitely still open!”, Yunohama declared gleefully. Shirabu was so going to make him do suicide runs next practice.

“Awesome!”, Tendou-san exclaimed. Then, as if they had planned this beforehand, everyone except for Goshiki went to line up behind him.

“Oh, fuck no”, Shirabu said decidedly. This could not be happening. He looked to Taichi for help but the damn traitor had taken the spot in line directly behind Tendou-san. Shirabu should really look for a new best friend. 

“You should line up, too, Tsutomu! It’s for the good of the Volleyball Club after all!”, Tendou-san insisted.

Shirabu considered if he could pull off strangling Tendou-san, Taichi and the rest of his senpai (Ushijima-san excluded), then convince Goshiki, Yunohama and Ushijima-san that it was his evil twin brother, and flee to America or something.

The answer was yes, but Shirabu decided he would miss Japanese food too much, so he contented himself with glaring daggers at Tendou-san.

Not that it did him any good because after stuttering out some protests, Goshiki, bright red in the face and looking at Shirabu nervously, queued up behind Ushijima-san, and Tendou-san shot Shirabu his brightest grin.

“Cheer up, Kenjirou, we won’t tell anyone if you’re a bad kisser, promise!” 

To Yunohama he said: “I’d like… ahhhh… a kiss on the cheek, I guess? No, wait, make that two!” Tendou-san handed him the money and then turned back to Shirabu.

“Do your worst, Kenjirou”, he chanted and turned his cheek to Shirabu to collect his kisses.

Shirabu glared at him but complied and pressed two fast kisses to Tendou-san’s cheek.

“You should buy a better razor, senpai”, he declared, wiping his lips, which made Tendou-san squawk at him and everyone else laugh.

Then Taichi stepped forward and Shirabu couldn’t really see it because of the surgical mask he had on, but he just knew that Taichi was wearing the biggest shit-eating grin.

“I’d like a kiss on the nose, please”, he told Yunohama and paid.

Then he turned to Shirabu and pulled the mask down to reveal the tip of his nose. Shirabu considered biting it because that would serve Taichi right for being a damn traitor and leading them all here, but in the end, he just placed a kiss on his nose.

“There, happy now?”, he asked.

“You know it.”

Heavens, Shirabu really needed better friends.

“I’ll take a kiss on the cheek, too”, Yamagata-san announced.

And better senpai.

“Wait, I’m out of cash… you wouldn’t happen to take credit cards, would you?”

Yunohama shook his head.

“It’s all right, please don’t force yourself to do this, Yamagata-san!”, Shirabu jumped in immediately.

“Nonsense, Kenjirou. It’s for the good of the volleyball club after all”, Oohira-san said with a wink, and handed Yunohama some coins. “I’ll pay for Hayato and me. Two kisses on the cheek, please.”

“I trusted you, Oohira-san”, Shirabu protested.

Oohira-san gave him his best innocent smile. Shirabu decided to demote him from his position as second favorite senpai.

He sighed, and kissed first Yamagata-san’s and then Oohira-san’s cheek and then glared at them.

Yamagata-san laughed and ruffled his hair.

Oohira-san squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t mind us, Kenjirou, we’re just messing with you. It’s how we show we care”, he promised.

Okay, maybe he could keep his position as Shirabu’s second favorite senpai. But only because demoting him would mean promoting either Tendou-san or Yamagata-san, who were currently laughing at him. Or worse, Semi-san.

Speaking of Semi-san, he also seemed to be enjoying this whole thing way too much as he stepped forward, payed for a kiss on the hand, and held out his hand while smirking down at Shirabu.

“You did quite well during the Inter High. But your blocks really need more work and that failed dunk against Inarizaki? Just tragic.”

Shirabu lifted the hand to his lips and repaid Semi-san with a very wet and slobbery kiss and when Semi-san’s expression turned to surprised disgust, he asked in his sweetest voice: “Is something the matter, senpai?”

Semi-san scoffed. “Just as cheeky as always, are we?”

But Shirabu didn’t get to bask in his satisfaction because right then he heard Ushijima-san say: “One kiss on the lips, please.”

Shirabu all but choked on air and everyone turned to stare at Ushijima-san.

Their ex-captain frowned at them. “What?”

“Uh… Wakatoshi are you sure you asked for the right one?”, Oohira-san asked gently, pressing his hand to Tendou-san’s mouth to keep him from commenting.

“Yeah, you don’t really want to kiss Shirabu, do you?”, Semi-san added in a tone that Shirabu very much took offense to. Especially considering the fact that Semi-san definitely hadn’t been complaining that one time they may or may not have made out in the broom closet during training camp.

“This is not about Shirabu. I merely chose the option that would earn the volleyball club the most money”, Ushijima-san explained, as if it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

Now, wasn’t that flattering to hear?

It really went to show how much Shirabu was over his first crush, because he was about to kiss _the_ Ushijima Wakatoshi and he wasn’t panicking. 

Well, not about kissing Ushijima-san at least, but he couldn’t help but glance at Goshiki really quick, finding him staring at Ushijima-san with a weird look on his face. However, now was not the time to puzzle that one out.

This was nothing more than business, Shirabu reminded himself, then he stood on his tiptoes because Ushijima-san had gotten even taller since the last time Shirabu had seen him.

It turned out that kissing Ushijima-san felt a lot like the time that Shirabu had practiced kissing on his pillow. Like nothing much at all.

The kiss was over in a heartbeat and Ushijima-san nodded at him. Shirabu nodded back a little awkwardly and then found that all their teammates were still staring at them.

That is, until a too loud voice pulled them from their shock: “I would like a kiss on the lips, too!!”

Goshiki was blushing a bright, blotchy red but even so, it seemed, he wouldn’t back away from any challenge Ushijima-san issued, intentional or not.

Fuck. He should have expected it, really. If Ushijima-san asked for a kiss on the lips, the only logical consequence for Goshiki was to do the same.

Which meant that Shirabu would have to kiss him. In front of everyone.

It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter with all the girls today or with Ushijima-san just now. Except Shirabu maybe kind of actually did have a tiny crush on Goshiki. And he didn’t want the senpai to know. They absolutely couldn’t know, because they wouldn’t understand and they’d make fun of him and tease him even more than usually and they probably still remembered the annoying first year Goshiki and they would think _that_’s who Shirabu had a crush on and then he would lose their respect and…

It didn’t matter. There was no way he was getting out of this.

It was just one kiss. He could do this. Nobody would be any the wiser. Not the senpai and definitely not Goshiki himself. Just one kiss and then Shirabu could go back to pretending he didn’t have a crush on Goshiki in peace. If Taichi and Yunohama ever were to bring it up again, he would just ask Washijou-san to make them do flying falls for an entire practice, that would teach them.

He took a deep breath. One kiss. He could do this.

Goshiki was still fumbling with the money he had to hand over to Yunohama, and Shirabu decided, it was best to look at him as little as possible, so he turned toward Taichi. From his wide-eyed expression, this whole thing probably hadn’t been part of his plan, but this was kind of all his fault anyways, so Shirabu decidedly dragged his finger over his throat and mouthed: “You are so dead.”

Taichi held up his hands defensively and then gestured to Tendou-san and Yamagata-san who were hardly even trying to hold back their laughter, as if to say that Shirabu should be mad at them instead.

He did shoot them a glare for good measure, then resigned himself to his fate and turned back just in time for Goshiki to almost headbutt him as he bowed and squeaked: “Please take good care of me.”

You would never get him to admit it out loud but Shirabu thought it was kind of endearing.

He also knew that, if he spent any more time thinking he would start to panic again because he was about to kiss Goshiki and everyone was watching and… Whelps, too late. Before it could get any worse though, he reached up, tilted Goshiki’s face down and kissed him.

It was, objectively speaking, the worst kiss Shirabu had experienced all day. In his enthusiasm, Goshiki had knocked their mouths together so hard, it hurt. And Shirabu didn’t know why he had Goshiki’s tongue slobbering all over his very much closed lips but it felt disgusting. He was pretty sure he could hear the rest of the team laughing at them.

Shirabu gently pushed Goshiki away and found that Goshiki, in his frilly, pink apron, was still bright red and had his eyes closed. Slowly, his lashes fluttered open, his eyes looked a bit unfocused and he had a shy smile on his lips.

Shirabu told the part of his brain that cooed “cute” to shut up.

He could hear Tendou-san “awwwww”-ing at them. That in turn made Shirabu’s face heat up. 

They had all seen. Not just the horrible kiss, but the way Shirabu must have looked at Goshiki afterwards, his blush and… They knew. They had to, by now. Fuck.

“You’re pretty shit at this”, he declared before he could think better of it.

Someone groaned at that but Shirabu didn’t turn to find out who because he was too surprised by the words that had just left his mouth, too busy watching the hurt flash in Goshiki’s eyes and how his expression slowly dropped.

“Yes… Uh… sorry, senpai, I think my classmates might need more help at the day nursery. I’ll be going.” With that, he was walking off briskly, his shoulders hunched, drooping.

They all watched him leave, then, almost in unison, everyone turned to Shirabu, levelling him stares ranging from disbelieving (Yunohama), to disapproving (Semi-san), confused (Ushijima-san), amused (Yamagata-san and Tendou-san) and flat-out resigned (Oohira-san and Taichi).

Surprisingly, Ushijima-san was the first to say something: “Tendou had assured me that you like Goshiki, Shirabu. Is that not the case?”

Shirabu could feel his face grow even hotter. “No!! … Yes? I mean no. Maybe… I mean yes. I mean…” He groaned, dropping down on his chair and hiding his face in his arms again.

“Such eloquence”, Semi-san commented.

Shirabu would have levelled him a glare but that would have required to look up, so instead he just grumbled a “please die, Sem-san” into his arms.

“Now, now, Eita”, he heard Oohira-san say as he placed a hand on Shirabu’s shoulder. “I think Kenjirou feels bad enough without our teasing. How about we go find Tsutomu instead and make sure he is all right? Kenjirou, Akemi, we told Taichi already that most of us are staying in Sendai for the weekend, so if you want, we thought we could meet up tomorrow. We’ll text you about it, yeah?”

Shirabu nodded but it probably wasn’t very clear from the way he still had his head buried in his arms. Still, Oohira-san just squeezed his shoulder and then began ushering the senpai away.

They left assuring him that everything would turn out all right, calling out good-byes but Shirabu didn’t look up.

Finally, he heard Yunohama sit back down on the chair next to Shirabu’s and the one who hopped on the table and started poking Shirabu’s head had to be Taichi.

The poking grew annoying really fast, so Shirabu sat back up to glare at him.

Obviously a mistake, because that meant he was faced with Taichi’s half-amused, half-pitying smile. “’You’re pretty shit at this’? Really, Kenjirou?”

“I panicked”, Shirabu protested, crossing his arms over his chest. “Plus, he _was_.”

“Yeah, no shit”, Taichi laughed.

“Do you think that was his first kiss? Please don’t tell me that was his first kiss…”

What had he done?

It was not like Shirabu was known for doling out praise, especially not to Goshiki, but he usually wasn’t out-right cruel. Well, not anymore. Definitely not now that Goshiki had stepped up and was able to back up his words with actions. But even before that… after their loss in the Prefectural Finals, after the senpai graduated and Shirabu, Taichi and Goshiki were left to pick up the pieces.

They had all grown stronger from their loss, Goshiki especially so. He had gone from a loudmouth wannabe-ace to someone Shirabu could and would rely on, gradually but undeniably, and before Shirabu knew it, Goshiki was wrapping an arm around his shoulder after a particularly spectacular victory in one of their practice matches and Shirabu had realized that, oh, maybe he didn’t hate Goshiki.

Okay, okay, it had been more than that and the realization threw him so far off of his game that the coach switched him out in the middle of the second set of their re-match, but all of that didn’t really matter anymore.

Because he had just kissed Goshiki and then told him straight to his face that he thought that the kiss was shit. Which wasn’t even true. Well, it was, but Shirabu hadn’t minded that much. But then the senpai and Taichi and Yunohama were there and they were laughing and Shirabu couldn’t admit in front of the senpai that he liked Goshiki and he hated people laughing at him and-

“Hey. Hey, Kenjirou, calm down. Breathe, okay, it’s all going to be okay”, Taichi said urgently, a hand gripping Shirabu’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, Shirabu? It looked like… can I… can I bring you something? Water or… I don’t know…”, Yunohama looked at him with a worried frown.

Shirabu took a deep breath. Exhaled. Another deep breath. Exhaled. Then he slapped his cheeks for good measure.

“I’m good”, he decided. Panicking wouldn’t make this mess any better. He knew that. He would focus on finishing the task at hand and then he would think about what to say to Goshiki. One thing at a time.

Taichi sighed. “I’m sorry, Kenjirou, I thought he’d just ask for a kiss on the cheek and then he’d blush and you’d blush and it would be cute and hilarious and all in good fun. I didn’t expect Ushijima-san to ask for a real kiss and then…”

Shirabu laughed weakly. “And then, of course Goshiki would go for a kiss, too. That damn idiot will never stop comparing himself to Ushijima-san…”

“And who’s to blame for that?”, Yunohama deadpanned.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m just saying… A certain someone used to worship the ground Ushijima-san walked on and paid him more attention than anyone else on the team…”

Shirabu frowned, but before he could protest, someone interrupted him.

“Uhm, excuse me? My friend and I were just wondering if your booth is still open or not… I know it’s already past six but we… we were working till now and we didn’t get to come by yet and uhm… yeah…”, the girl who spoke smiled shyly at Shirabu. If he remembered correctly, she and her friend had worked in the calligraphy workshop right next to their booth.

Yunohama and Shirabu exchanged a look. This was as good a next task to fulfill and keep him from panicking as any, so Shirabu shrugged, and Yunohama said: “Sure thing, ladies. You’re gonna get the last kisses of the evening, so choose wisely. What can Shirabu do for you?”

They both decided on a kiss on the hand, which Shirabu quickly delivered, and then they left, giggling to themselves.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Shirabu’s shoulder sagged and he sighed. “I am so, so glad this is over. Please remind me to never do something like that ever again”, he groaned.

“We still need to clean up the booth, bring the money back to the classroom and count it”, Yunohama reminded him.

“Didn’t they say they’d get someone else to do it?”

“Nope, Ninomiya-san was very clear about it. We have to… oh… uh…”

Shirabu looked at him to find out why he had trailed off, then followed his line of sight and…

Oh…

Goshiki was walking towards them determinedly, without his apron this time.

“Shit, what do I do?”, Shirabu hissed. He looked around but there wasn’t really anywhere to hide or to run.

“Don’t insult him this time”, Taichi offered lazily.

Before Shirabu could declare that this was absolutely garbage advice, Goshiki reached them.

He took a deep breath. “Shirabu-san, could I talk to you for a minute? Uh… alone?”, his voice was too high and too loud, and he was fiddling with his fingers.

Before Shirabu could tell him that it would have to wait because he still had to clean up – which would have given him at least a moment to think about what he was going to say – Yunohama stepped in: “Go on, you’ve been doing most of the work here all afternoon anyways and Kawanishi will help me with the clean-up, right?”

Taichi grumbled, but agreed.

Great friends they were, throwing Shirabu to the wolves.

“Oh, uh… good. Thank you, senpai…”, Goshiki said.

When he didn’t offer to lead Shirabu somewhere else and the silence slowly stretched and turned awkward, Shirabu sighed and got out from behind the table. “Make sure all the money goes to the volleyball club, okay? I didn’t do all that kissing for nothing”, he reminded Yunohama, then he grabbed Goshiki’s wrist and said: “Let’s go.”

He pulled him along to the soccer pitch, which was luckily abandoned, now that everyone was at the main stage waiting for the final performance, and then went to sit on the stands.

Goshiki had followed along silently and without protest and now they were looking at each other, neither of them really knowing where to start.

Just when Shirabu decided that he should probably lead with an apology, Goshiki said: “I’m sorry, Shirabu-san.”

Shirabu frowned. “_You_’re sorry? Why? I’m the one who should apologize…”

“Oohira-san explained that I shouldn’t have kissed you… you know, like that… I just thought… it’s how they always do it in movies, you know?”, there was a blush on his face as his voice slowly faded out.

Shirabu groaned. “You haven’t really kissed anyone before, have you?” He really had messed that one up royally, hadn’t he?

He could see Goshiki’s face grow even redder, and then he shook his head.

Shirabu rubbed his temples. “Yeah, figures. Anyway, I’m sorry about what I said. I didn’t… I just… I’m sorry, okay. It… it wasn’t that bad.” That was a lie, obviously, but it made Goshiki perk up hopefully, so Shirabu decided that it was okay. He went on: “Look, kissing is… it’s a lot like volleyball actually. You need to practice a lot before you get any good.”

Goshiki thought about that for a moment. “Yes, that makes sense…” Then he tilted his head. He bit his lip, frowning. Then, he took a deep breath and looked straight at Shirabu. “Shirabu-san would you… would you practice with me?”

“Kissing?”, Shirabu would forever deny It but it came out as a squeak.

Goshiki nodded. “Yes. I mean, you don’t have to of course but… well, I want to get better and there is no one but you that I would want to practice with. And I thought maybe it would be okay with you because it seemed like you, you know, maybe liked me, too. At least that’s what everyone has been saying, that I’m your favorite, and you have been really nice to me lately and you give great advice and you stay late to practice with me and you’re so smart and cool and the way you play volleyball is so fierce and you are really, really pretty and–“

“Shut up!”, Shirabu interrupted him, voice high-pitched. “Stop. Please. Please just…”

“Senpai, are you okay? Your face is really, really red…”

“It’s not”, Shirabu hissed. That was another big, fat lie, of course. He could feel his face burning, all the way up to the tips of his ears.

“… I’m sorry…”, Goshiki said with a frown. “I didn’t mean to make you angry. I just… I like you, Shirabu-san. I like you a lot. But… I… sorry…” He started getting up.

Shirabu groaned. This was going all wrong. Again.

“Wait!” He grabbed Goshiki’s wrist. “Look, I…”

_I like you too_. It should be easy to say, but somehow, he just couldn’t. So instead, he leaned over and kissed Goshiki.

It was just the shortest press of lips on lips, barely more than a second or two.

When Shirabu pulled back, Goshiki was staring at him, unmoving, wide-eyed, mouth agape, his whole face a blotchy red.

After he didn’t move or speak for more than ten seconds, Shirabu frowned, feeling his own blush intensifying. “What?”, he snapped. “That was what you asked for, wasn’t it? Come one, say something, stupid.”

“Could we do that again, please, senpai?”

His voice was so earnest and full of wonder that it made Shirabu want to go to his room and scream into his pillow because it was just too much. But that would only result in more misunderstandings, he was sure of it, so instead, he cupped Goshiki’s face softly and kissed him again.

It was still a pretty bad kiss, but that was okay. They could always practice after all.

**Author's Note:**

> English isn't my first language, so you're more than welcome to point out any mistakes that need fixing!
> 
> Also, if you know why Daichi had a project about seals... I feel your pain, come cry with me!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and, if you're up for it, let me know, what your favourite part was, yeah?


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